Despite the recent heavy rains, the Black Mountain of Maine and the Chisholm Ski Club were able to salvage both the alpine and nordic courses to provide a great day of skiing in the 2018 Chisholm Challenge. In the initial race of the day, Mia Corcoran, skiing for the Chisholm Ski Club's race team, capture the gold in the girls Giant Slalom with times of :27.03 and 27:82 for a :54.85 total. Corcoran's time was just over a second faster than runner-up Madison Papianou (:56.02). Papianou's first run of :26.80 was the fastest run of the day. Coming in third was Katie Yeaton of the Farmington Area Ski Team. Rounding out the top six were Hannah Macmillan of Rangeley, Emily Harper of Maranacook, and Anna Erb, also of Maranacook.
In the final day of competition at Black Mountain Ski Resort, the Vermont team of Phoebe Sweet, Ben Ogden, Callie Young and Greg Burt
strided and skated to a gold medal in the Eastern High School Championships on March 18th. The race consisted of two classical legs and two freestyle legs over the famed John Roderick Trail System. The women's skied the first leg on a 3030m classical course which was repeated by the first male skier. The baton was then passed off to the second female to ski the 3046m freestyle leg of the race, and finished off by the second male racer.
The Vermont team's combined time of 30:50.1 was enough to earn them the top podium spot with the Massachusetts team of Laura Appleby, Jacob Jampel, Shea Brams, and James Kitch grabbing the silver with a combined time of 31:26.8. The Vermont team of Charlotte Ogden, Will Koch, Rena Schwartz and Joshua Valentine grabbed the bronze medal with a combined time of 32:03.1.
Team Vermont captured the Graham Taylor Cup, the trophy emblematic of the team that sccored the most team points over the three days of competition. Graham was present to help outgoing NENSA representative Amber Freeman present the award to the Vermont team.
Congratulation to all the state competitors for a great EHS Championship. We also want to thank all the Chisholm Ski Club volunteers (and Mother Nature) who help make this a great skiing event.
Maine's Abigail Streinz outsprinted the other 109 skiers to grab gold in the
women's 1.2k Freestyle Sprint at the 2018 Eastern High School Championships at Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford. This was the second event of Day 2, with the competitors having completed a 7.5k Classical race in the morning. The Stockholm, ME native completed the course in 2.53.9 to handily earn the victory. Mae Chalmers of Vermont took the silver in 2:59.78. Vermont's Phoebe Sweet, who had won the earlier race, finished the sprint in 3:00.43 to take the bronze medal.
Rounding out the top six were, Vermont's Callie Young, Laura Appleby of Massachusetts, and Maine's Olivia Skillings.
In a very close battle in the individual points standings, Streinz, Laukli, Sweet and Young are all within 2 points of each other heading into the final day of competition.
Vermont's Ben Ogden won his third event in three tries with a very close victory over New York's Scott Schulz in the men's sprint. Odgen stretched out at the finish to edge Schulz by less than a half a second, finishing in 2:19.75. Schulz's time of 2:20.21 gave him the silver, with James Kitch of Massachusettes taking the last podium position with a time of 2:26.23.
Other top finishers were Vermont's Greg Burt, Massachusetts' Oliver Snow, and Vermont's Joshua Valentine.
In the men's individual standings, Ogden leads with 405 points, followed by Kitch with 376, Schulz with 375, and Burt with 374.
In team standings, Vermont leads with 12,400 points, followed by Massachusetts with 9084, New Hampshire with 8821, Maine with 7893, and New York with 6775,
Competition continues on Sunday with the mixed relays, in which teams of 4 navigate combine classical and freestyle skiing in a full-filled conclusion of the weekend festivities.
Ben Ogden and Phoebe Sweet kept the momentum going for Vermont in the
2018 Eastern High School Championships with gold medal finishes in the men's and women's 7.5k Mass Start Classical race at Black Mountain on March 17th. It was the second gold of the weekend for Ogden, who won the 5k freestyle race on the previous day. The Landgrove, Vermont native finished the classical race in 18:53.3, .8 of a second faster than silver medalist James Kitch of Belmont, Massachusetts. Will Koch, son of 1976 Olympic Silver medalist Bill Koch, took the bronze with a time of 20:03.1 for Vermont.
Joshua Valentine of Gilford, NH but skiing for Vermont, took fourth, with teammate Greg Burt of Huntington, Vt. coming in fifth. Hailing from Newton, Massachusetts, Jacob Jampel came in sixth.
In the women's race, Sweet, of Waterbury, Vermont, crossed the finish line first in 23:50.3. Maine's Sophia Laukli of Yarmouth grabbed the silver, with Jay, Vermont's Callie Young winning the bronze.
Also finishing in the top 6 were Laura Appleby (Lincoln, MA.), Rene Schwartz (Middlesex, VT.), and Stockhhom, Maine's Abigail Streinz.
Sophia Laukli of Yarmouth, Maine captured the gold medal in the women's 5k Freestyle event to open the 2018 Eastern High School Championships
at Black Mountain of Maine on March 16th. Laukli's time of 11:55.4 was 1.5 seconds faster than silver medalist Callie Young of Jay, Vermont. Abigail Streinz of Stockholm, Maine won the bronze with a time of 12:11.8. Rounding out the top six finishers were Rena Schwartz of Middlesex, Vermont, Mae Chalmers of Landgrove, Vermont, and Lincoln, Massachusetts' Laura Appleby.
Chisholm Ski Club and Black Mountain of Maine are geared up for the premier event for high school and prep school racers in New England and New York. The goal of the EHSC is to provide the highest quality competition for high school-aged athletes. We received 14" of fresh snow on March 8-9 and will have the full use of all our courses for this two-day event.
Athletes have qualified for the EHS CHampionships through state qualifying races (ME, NH, VT, MA, and NY). Up to 24 boys and 24 girls have been selected for each state’s teams.
